 |
Business |
|
|
Civil servants and gov’t
reach deal on wage hikes
|
|
Salary negotiations between the government and civil servant representatives ended in a compromise Friday in the fifth round of talks.
|
|
|
The government pledged to give civil servants a 4 percent wage increase for the first six months of 2009 and a 4.5 percent wage increase for the second half. The amount of supplemental payments provided to civil servant union members to cover union fees was raised from YTL 5 to YTL 10. Additionally, if the 8.7 percent cumulative wage increase remains lower than the annual inflation rate at the end of the year, an amount to offset this loss will be added to civil servants' wages. With this agreed upon hike, the lowest civil servant wage will see a YTL 45 increase to YTL 1,169 and will climb to YTL 1,216 with the second increase in the second half. The talks were presided over by Minister of State Murat Başesgioğlu and attended by two of Turkey's major civil servant unions, the Turkish Public Workers' Labor Union (Kamu-Sen) and the Turkish Civil Servants' Trade Union (Memur-Sen). The talks started on Aug. 15 and on Thursday the government finally disclosed its proposal for wage increases, offering a total raise of 7.6 percent for 2009, which drew negative reactions from unions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES
ANKARA
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
